Ashes to Ashes | Week 2

Do you remember a guy that’s been
In such an early song
I’ve heard a rumour from Ground Control
Oh no, don’t say it’s true

What a week. First Bowie then Professor Snape, the sorrow felt around the world. I HAD to go digging through my catalog of images to find one of our album wall (which has been dismantled after the reno.) My husband and I loved two very different Bowie’s, when I was five Aladdin Sane (center, one down) my husband 16. He went on to collect the Stones, Hendrix, Blondie and the Clash. A decade later I was buying Bowie/ Let’s Dance, Prince/ Controversy and Madonna/ Like A Virgin, glam rock meets glam pop.

I can’t think of anyone else my husband and I share a love for other than Bowie. He has an important place in my collection of soundtracks as well, had no idea that Bowie has over 450 credits of songs in film/TV.  Next time you binge watch Netflix I bet you hear a Bowie, the ultimate composer of the universal life soundtrack. Think of those songs that you will never forget.

Time might change me but I can’t trace time – Starman

This beautiful set of illustrations turned gif went viral upon Bowie’s ascent on January 10th, artist Helen Green made this almost exactly a year ago for his 68th birthday. You need to check out Helen Green’s work and if you are a Duran Duran or Gaga fan you are in for a treat as well. Her peice, past-present-future definitely will be added to my gallery wall.

Isn’t it true you always hear a Bowie song in a movie or he’s writing one FOR a movie (Cat People) or after being inspired by a movie as in the case of Space Oddity inspired by  Bowie saw Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

and then there is Under Pressure …. Freddy, that hook, those lyrics. The best.

‘Cause love’s such an old-fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure

I’m a Blackstar

When Blackstar was released two days before his death I couldn’t bring myself to listen to it. I was in denial like most fans, putting off the inevitable, not ready to accept this was the end.

I finally watched the video, as of today it has been watched over 20 MILLION times. There was 18 million when I started writing this post.

I completely lose it at 4:28.

How in the world do you create something so beautiful about death while facing your own?

This is how I want to leave the world, on my highest note.

Not Professor Snape too

People start saying this people leave in threes and four days later we lose Alan Rickman. Sob. All I can say is that I watch Love Actually for him (and Hugh…and Liam) That voice. And then just last fall my daughter decided to pick up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. After each book we watched the film and I fell deeply in love with the series and Professor Snape.

Turn to page Three Hundred and Nine-tey-foour.

There are few things I enjoyed more than watching Alan Rickman sigh in a movie. RIP

— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) January 14, 2016

We never got into HP because the first book was published just weeks after Super B was born, almost 19 years ago. I can’t read the emotional tributes because I already have a feeling about the parallels between Rickman and Snape and that there is a BIG plot twist on the horizon, but my 9 year old hasn’t a clue which is kind of like enjoying that last year before the figure out the guy in the white beard KWIM? She just started book 5 and is a little burned out on back to back reading up to this one. I will admit I have considered sneaking in a HP binge while she sleeps one or two times. Its a great escape from all this death.

The silver lining? You can help Rickman’s legacy as he became philanthropic in recent years, lending his purr of a voice on the video below, a project that takes YouTube revenue that goes directly to help refugee children via Save the Children. You could even make a donation in his memory.

Here’s what the rest of my week looked like.

I’m working on finishing my office. I have dedicated an entire wall from photographs (Kevin Russ) to my kids art anything that has been fuel for my creative endeavors.

I scored a pillow from Pottery Barn (Ken Faulk Collection) see the PIN here >> Pillow Talk Board AND it was on CLEARANCE 70% off. It was just the injection of enthusiasm I need to start thinking about finish the home reno project we started last year.

When Breath Becomes Air came out on the 12th and I just had to have it, I didn’t know why I just knew in my bones that I needed a copy in my hands, no waiting for the backordered copy on Amazon as I hauled ass down to B&N to plunked down 25.00. I suppose the final straw in the attack of the unconscious was seeing that this was written by the brother-in-law of a blogger I have read for quite some time, Cup of Jo her twin sisters husband, a Stanford neurologist/neuroscientist who was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 36. It started with an OpEd essay in 2014 How Long Have I Got Left in the NYT and as the urgency for more aggressive treatment grew so did his desire to leave us all with this gift of a book. I read this in two sittings, its simply that engrossing. Also, bring Kleenex and get ready for a nice detoxifying cry.
*Updated to add … I figured out you can embeded FREE previews of the book from Amazon – have a LOOK >>

Next week I moved on to The Prime (orange book) and I’ll tell you all about it later tonight when I catch up on Week 3.